21/9/97 Dear Hilary, Many thanks for your nice letter. Eivind and I have a ‘honeymoon’ to Italy and France, arrived yesterday. It’s very hot and nice. Extremely charming. We play tennis, swim, eat and relax! Just marvellous. Tomorrow we go to La Eze, near Monaco and stay till Thursday evening. In Oslo it’s +2º in the morning and snow in the mountains. It’s a pity you cannot come to Oslo but hopefully later.  We go to Meribel in France for winter holiday end February with all the children.  Much love from Vibeke

It sounds lovely! Interesting comparison of September temperatures in Northern and Southern Europe.

The card carries a damaged 500 lire stamp, issued in 1980, featuring the Castello di Rovereto in Rome, and is postmarked ‘PORTOFINO 22.9.87’

The images on the front of the card show the picturesque harbour of Portofino, which is on the north west coast of Italy.

Vibeke (pronounced ‘Veebecca’) and her family employed me for a year, to live in their Oslo home and help with the housework and children. One of my main tasks was to play with and speak English with the children. The youngest spoke no English when I arrived but was reasonably fluent by the time I left; my Norwegian continues to be virtually non-existent! This card was sent five years after I left Norway, and I’m pleased to say that I am still in regular contact with Vibeke, over 30 years later; as well as with some of the children, who are really only a bit younger than me, and now have their own families 🙂 Despite the best intentions, I have never been back to Norway…